NFL Tebow: Agent, Senior Bowls, Bills?

Is Tim Tebow picking an agent this week? That's the word from Tim Tebow's brother, Robby (via OS's Jeremy Fowler).

Presumably under guidance from an agent -- I'm betting Tom Condon -- Tebow is also going to decide if he's going to play in the Senior Bowl or East-West Shrine games.

I'm betting no on both. Tebow's agent will want his public displays to be more tightly controlled, and it's not like playing or not playing in those games will not impact his draft status -- at all.

That's a good segue: Fowler lists his Top 5 teams most likely to draft Tebow -- four are in the Top 11, in which case playing in those showcases REALLY can't help.

5. Seahawks
4. Redskins
3. Pats
2. Jaguars
1. Bills

Fowler's assumption for all but the Pats is that Tebow can and will eventually be a starting QB in the NFL. I'm not sold on that yet -- I think he absolutely could be, with a couple years of training. But he is just as likely to spend his first few years as some kind of all-purpose "superback" that takes the Wildcat QB role and evolves it into something new and more potent.

The biggest issue is whether the Redskins (4th), the Seahawks (6th) or the Bills (9th) would be willing to use a Top 10 1st-round pick on a player who is possibly a starting QB down the road or possibly some kind of part-timeQB/full-time superback (if the coach has the courage and creativity to use him that way). The Jags are a complete outlier, strategically. And the Patriots, picking in the late 20s, would absolutely grab Tebow if he fell that far.

To Fowler's point that the Bills are the most likely destination, my question is this: Has Tebow ever played in game temperatures less than 50 degrees? How about 30? How about in the snow, like we saw last weekend? How about in the winds that make throwing in Buffalo a hassle? Serious factors.

Isn't all this speculation more fun than "Play!" or "Don't Play!" against LSU?

Could Tim Tebow Host Saturday Night Live?

When I heard that Saturday Night Live was using Charles Barkley as a host, my first reaction was wondering whether they first tried to get Tim Tebow, now that he's eligible for something like that. He is certainly a big enough star in the sports world, and there's plenty of material for sketches. (To say the least -- I mean, the bris sketch writes itself.) I wonder if SNL inquired into Tebow's availability.

Dr. Phil Is a BIG Tebow Fan

Dedicated Tebow-watchers have seen a lot of things over the years, but new territory was staked out on Monday: Dr. Phil -- yes, THE Dr. Phil -- wrote a blog post about Tebow.

Needless to say, Dr. Phil is a big fan:

I cannot tell you how outraged I get when I read some of the snarky sportswriters and hear sportscasters who make fun of Tebow for being such a goody-two shoes guy. Come on, can’t we just celebrate someone who does it right? Have we become that ridiculously cynical as a society that the only thing that sells is scandal, to the point that parts of the media actually resent a genuinely good guy?

I totally agree -- most sports columnists who bash Tebow (a) don't get it, (b) are almost assuredly doing it to be contrarian, and (c) really are helplessly cynical, which isn't a good thing.

Then the Dr. gets prescriptive:

Please, all you parents who are looking for a role model for your children, I recommend that you introduce them to the world of Tim Tebow. He’s really a role model for all of us.

I think what's key here is that parents -- and I am the parent of two young boys -- takeaway the more secular or humanistic values of Tebow: Hard work, commitment, leadership, relationships.

To me, that's where his real value as a role model lies. Obviously, Tebow has his specific ways he applies those things, both on and off the field. But they are essential characteristics or values for anyone who wants to be well-adjusted and make a contribution.

But, really: It was surreal to read that post from Dr. Phil about Tebow. Here's betting that Tebow makes an appearance on the Dr. Phil Show sometime before the NFL Draft.

End of Tebow Era: Last Point, About Joy

If there was one single most remarkable thing about the Sugar Bowl -- including Tim Tebow's performance in it -- it was the sense of free-wheeling joy that the team played with.

Compare that with the burden of perfection that Tim Tebow, Urban Meyer and the entire team was under from the day that Tebow announced he was returning for his senior year, onward.

"Championship or Failure" was the operating principle -- I was no small proponent and propagator of it.

At its best, it represented to me the extremely rare chance for a singularly great team to fulfill its potential.

At its worst, the mindset stripped all the joy from the season -- every week was "win or else." I really didn't care about how they did it, except as an indicator of their chance of winning again.

But you could see the pressure of "Title or Bust" wear on the team. It wore on the fans. It wore on the media. It obviously wore on Urban Meyer. It wore on Tim Tebow.

It is totally reasonable for Tebow to say that the season was "about relationships, not championships," but there is a reason he was crying on the sidelines in Atlanta.

Those tears -- combined with Meyer's health issues -- were the byproduct of "Title or Fail."

Then consider its antecedents, its antidotes: Start with the Swamp finale. Bookend that with the Sugar Bowl. You saw the joy again.

Not winning the national championship was a huge disappointment -- as superior as Alabama appeared to be, I will always consider the season to be one of unfulfilled potential.

If nothing but a national championship would be sufficient, then we all -- Tebow, Meyer, fans, media -- got the next-best thing in the Sugar Bowl:

We saw Tebow playing with joy. We saw his teammates playing with joy. We saw fans celebrating with joy.

It's not an insubstantial thing, and as I think about the lessons from this year, it isn't a bad one to walk away with.

End of Tebow Era: How To Sum It All Up?

And so the Tebow Era is over for the University of Florida. And, make no mistake, the back half of the Aughts will be remembered as the "Tebow Era."

In addition to covering that era here, all season long I have been filing weekly columns over at Yahoo's Dr. Saturday college football blog. Yesterday, I published my final thoughts, trying to put Tebow's career into perspective:

In this realm, it is finished, and the debate over Tebow's place among the all-time greats can spread among the people as he ascends to the NFL. In the college game, his legacy comes back to two great themes:

Winning. Immortality in sports is most often based on championships. From Tebow's small but critical role in Florida's 2006 national title to his MVP prominence en route to the 2008 national title, debates can be won simply by saying "two national titles, winningest senior class in SEC history." Tebow's over-the-top cheerleading and earnest promise-making both stem from a core competitiveness that has translated into championships.

Mythology. There have been plenty of winners in college football. But few circumcise babies while preaching in prisons while lighting up Google while taming TMZ while saving themselves for marriage while getting concussions while making promises while crying on the sidelines while delivering jump-passes while breaking hallowed records. It is the sheer, relentless volume of these details, repeated ad nauseam, that combined to make Tebow feel larger-than-life.

There will almost certainly be players who win as or more prolifically than Tebow. What seems improbable is that any winning player will layer in the mythical components in the same depth or breadth that he has at this level, where even the best players are only just growing into their persona and the window for influence and fame is so fleeting. Even more than his promise as a player, the myth of Tebow's outsized personality made him a star before he made his first career start.

Will there ever be another Tebow? If Tebow himself has been motivated to inspire, as much as anything else he has done on the field, then you would hope so:

Roll back the clock to New Year's Day 2000: Tebow was 12 years old. Not only had you never heard of him, but you were at least another five or six years from ever hearing of him.

While the circumstances of Tebow's ascension were, in part, a perfect storm of physical gifts, personality, optimized coaching/strategy and evolving media landscape, it would be hubris to suggest Tebow's accomplishment as an amateur can never be topped.

But he leaves behind less a legacy than a benchmark, not just of accomplishment and competitiveness, but also of leadership and commitment. On New Year's Day 2010, as Tebow ran wild through Cincinnati, somewhere there was a kid out there falling off his bike for the hundredth time who will be inspired to top it.

See the whole thing here.

NFL Tebow: The Next Derek Anderson?

Part of the analysis of Tim Tebow as an NFL QB -- even a full-time NFL QB, as opposed to a specialist -- is trying to find comparisons to current or post NFL QBs. Short of the "Wildcat QB" stuff, I personally like Allen Barra's comparison of Tebow to Donovan McNabb.

But Jeff Risdon at RealGM.com offered up another interesting comp: Derek Anderson.

I think the Sugar Bowl is a good microcosm off all things good and bad. Tebow is clearly a rare leader, a positive force both on the field and in the locker room. He has the requisite arm strength, better than average. Tebow is physically tough and hard to tackle, moves well, and can make plays with his legs. His short-area accuracy is very good. Those are all attributes of a very good starting NFL quarterback.

But there are warts too, and these are the ones that his most fervent supporters don't like to understand. Yes, he completed 31 of 35 against Cincinnati's woefully overmatched secondary, but I saw a lot of accuracy issues. Tebow makes his receivers work far too often to make the catch; the ball is rarely right where it needs to be, it's always a couple feet high or behind where a great thrower would put it. It doesn't show up so much on short throws, where he can rocket the ball nicely, as he showed on the 7-yarder to Aaron Hernandez for a touchdown. It shows when Tebow works the deeper realms and the perimeter of the field. The ball is catchable, but the receiver either has to break stride or jump up or turn back and reach. When paired with Tebow's elongated, slow delivery, that turns into Derek Anderson in the NFL. And that's actually who I see most in Tim Tebow as a passer: Derek Anderson, a streaky, fearless slinger who can be great in short stretches, but stares down his receiver too readily, doesn't progress through his reads quickly, and almost never hits the inner circle of the bullseye. Tebow obviously has a lot more to offer as a runner, where I see him akin to a younger Daunte Culpepper: physical, strong, long-striding with good vision but not especially fast or quick.

He goes on to offer the projection of late 2nd/early 3rd, with the standard (and continually remarkable) caveat that a team could easily reach to take him higher.

NFL Tebow: Peter King Says Early 2nd

From today's Monday Morning Quarterback from Peter King:

I think I've said it before about Tim Tebow and I'll say it again: The NFL team that can't find a spot for Tebow to help it win games is close-minded. I don't know if he can be an every-down quarterback, but I do know 28 teams passed on Joe Montana through two rounds because he was too small, 31 teams passed on Tom Brady through five rounds because he was just another guy, and Kurt Warner went undrafted and twice went knocking on doors as an unwanted free-agent even after he won a Super Bowl in the NFL. Every GM didn't go to Harvard. Every personnel czar is not Ron Wolf. What I do know is if I ran a team, and I've got the 40th pick in the draft, and Tebow's there, I pick him without hesitation and pass the card in as, "Tim Tebow, football player, Florida.'' And I pop the champagne corks.

Here is what King leaves hanging: 40th? Fine. But he's hardly being generous or unconventional in his thinking. Even the Tebow Draft Denialists think he'll go in the 2nd round.

But what about 10th? Or 20th? Or 30th? King's "40th" point makes it sound like he doesn't think that Tebow is worth picking earlier than the early 2nd round -- and certainly not the 1st round. Doesn't that undercut his entire preceding argument?

King is one of the folks who will have to reconcile their own personal evaluation -- Tebow as 2nd-rounder -- with the reality that there is a team that will take him in the 1st round, possibly the top half of the 1st round, possibly the Top 10.

I do, however, completely agree with his larger point: "The NFL team that can't find a spot for Tebow to help it win games is close-minded."

NFL Tebow: Draft Top 20 Order Set(Can Tim Tebow Go In The Top 20?)

The order of the Top 20 of the 2010 NFL Draft is set (with a few minor coin-toss clarifications yet to be made), and we can start to consider if Tim Tebow may get drafted in the first round -- and, if so, where.

Let's start with this: If the speculation is true that the Jaguars are going to take Tebow no matter what, he could go in the Top 10, no later than No. 11.

*The Rams won't take him first. Period.

*The Lions just drafted Stafford, and the Bucs just drafted Freeman.

*I could see the Redskins being unpredictable (and marketing-savvy) enough to take Tebow -- but that won't happen at No. 4.

*KC just signed Matt Cassel.

*The Seahawks need a QB, but will take a West Coast offense-friendly QB like Bradford or Clausen.

*Even with their mess at QB, no way the Browns will take Tebow.

*Oakland at 8 is fascinating, if only because Al Davis is insane.

*The Bills' Jim Kelly endorsed the team taking Tebow, but even beyond questions about Tebow's fit as a starting QB or questions about a team as directionless as Buffalo, at No. 9, he is unlikely.

*Even if the Bears flip into No. 10, they just spent a fortune to get Jay Cutler -- although I could see a populist surge for the team to take a "Chicago-style" player like Tebow. It won't happen.

And then all eyes on Jacksonville at 11.

1. St. Louis (1-15)
2. Detroit (2-14)
3. Tampa Bay (3-13)
4. Washington (4-12)
5. Kansas City (4-12)
6. Seattle (5-11)
7. Cleveland (5-11)
8. Oakland (5-11)
9. Buffalo (6-10)
10/11. Chicago (7-9)* (Traded to DEN)
10/11. Jacksonville (7-9)*
12. Miami (7-9)
13. San Francisco (8-8)
14. Denver (8-8)(Traded to SEA)
15. New York Giants (8-8)
16/17. Carolina (8-8)* (Traded to SF)
16/17. Tennessee (8-8)*
18. Pittsburgh (9-7)
19/20. Atlanta (9-7)*
19/20. Houston (9-7)*

That analysis above was just a taste. I will dig much deeper into every team's motivation for drafting Tebow as the pre-draft craziness progresses.

The rebuilding teams with little chance of making the playoffs next year or in the future will be leery of taking Tebow -- they will almost assuredly have areas of greater need than what Tebow will solve. The near-playoff teams that are just a few tweaks away will also be looking to fill a specific need, rather than willing to embrace uncertainty and creativity with Tebow. The remaining 12 teams -- all in the playoffs this season -- have their own motivations.

UPDATE: Would you know it? The PBP's intrepid Ben Volin beat me to this. That'll teach me to write a post in the early morning, then hold it until the mid-afternoon. He and I can quibble, but we mostly agree. I think that there's less of a chance that Tebow goes before the Jags at 10/11 than Volin does -- he's much more bullish on Tebow to Buffalo than I am. But see how this is already being framed: Top 10-ish.

It's like there are the denialist draftniks who want to keep claiming that Tebow is a 2nd-rounder, then the realists who recognize that he's going 1st round, possibly Top half, possibly Top 10.

Top Tebow: Should Sugar Bowl Crash List?

It's worth asking: Given Tim Tebow's record-setting, career-capping performance in the Sugar Bowl, should that game be included in his "Top 10 Tebow Moments" list?

Here is the reason it should: Statistically, it was his best game ever -- career highs in passing yards and completions, a BCS bowl record for total yards, a Sugar Bowl record for consecutive passes, and absolute dominance. There was also the notion that this happened in his final game.

On the other hand, it was an exhibition game -- look, I was thrilled to see Tebow and the rest of the team play without the weight of the world on their shoulders, but it was more of a reminder of just how trudging the season was for them. And Cincy's D was worse than any Florida saw in the SEC.

It was a wonderful game and a wonderful moment -- undoubtedly, one of the Top 10 games of his career. But not quite a Top 10 moment.

(If anything, my biggest regret from the Top 10 list was not including the 4th quarter of the 2008 SEC Championship Game, which wasn't just Tebow's first come-from-behind win, but the finest performance of his career. I might just adjust the list for that, perhaps combining his original college commitment and his senior year "re-commitment" into one item.)

But make no mistake: The Sugar Bowl performance was a joy to watch, and -- short of an appearance in the national title game -- a fitting final performance.

For Tebow, A New Era Begins Now

Anyone else wake up this morning a little bummed out over the end of the Tebow Era at Florida? Yes, we knew it was coming. Yes, it ended on a wonderful note. But this is it: It's over. Next page.

It has been wonderful to dovetail covering Tebow with covering the Gators, my favorite team. But now, Florida moves on, Tebow moves on... and so does TimTeblog.com.

Starting now, the focus of the blog is on the future for Tim Tebow: Primarily, that involves his status leading up to the NFL Draft in April. But it will also focus on Tebow the Brand -- the endorsement and marketing opportunities that he will have, earning him a lot of money.

(Ben Volin tweeted this morning that he saw Tebow in an ad for Tobacco Free Florida, suggesting that ad started Tebow's "pro" career as an endorser. I believe that ad was released in the early fall.)

Anyway, today is for relaxing and recharging. Tomorrow, the next stage of the Tebow Era begins in earnest.

End of Tebow Era: The Morning After

"I dreamed of being a Gator since I was six years old and it was better than I could have dreamed."

-- Tim Tebow, after last night's Sugar Bowl.

Full quote:

"Honestly, I dreamed of being a Gator since I was 6 years old and it was better than I could have dreamed. But just because I'm graduating the University of Florida doesn't mean I'm still not a Gator. I've been a Gator my whole life and always will be a Gator. So it's not really saying good-bye, it's just moving on to a new chapter, but I'll still always be a Gator."

Some good reads for a Saturday morning:

*Recap/analysis from NYT's Pete Thamel here.

*Recap/analysis from the PBP's Ben Volin here.

*Analysis from Gainesville Sun's Pat Dooley here.

*Analysis from Fanhouse's Clay Travis here.

*Analysis from ESPN's Pat Forde here.

*The NFL transition from the Herald's Joe Goodman here.

*More on the NFL storyline from PFT's Mike Florio here.

*The media-story angle from Mediaite's Rachel Sklar here.

Tim Tebow's Florida/College Career EndsWith a Virtually Perfect Bowl Performance

"Tim Tebow will go down as one of the best -- if not the best -- player in the history of college football."

-- Urban Meyer on 2010 Sugar Bowl MVP Tim Tebow, in the final game of his college football career, one of the most impressive of his career (if we thought that was possible).

533 total yards -- a BCS bowl record -- including 31/35 passing for 482 yards, with 3 TDs and 0 INTs, plus 51 yards rushing and a TD in a 51-24 dismantling of (then-)No. 3 Cincinnati.

It was a record-smashing, virtually perfect performance -- beyond playing for a national title, it is hard to think of a better game for Tim Tebow to end his career on.

I particularly liked a couple of things:

(1) That he did it so predominantly through the air. It was almost like an intentional tweak to the NFL draft experts who claim he can't play QB in the NFL. (So much more on that later.)

(2) That he set his own individual career single-game highs for passing yards and completions, along the way breaking the BCS bowl record for total yards by a single player.

(3) That he had a couple of brilliant TD passes (the one to Deonte Thompson stands out), but also that before he got his own rushing TD, he had selfless pitches to Emmanuel Moody, who ran in for scores.

(4) The Fox "Tebow Cam" was fascinating viewing (if annoyingly running a few seconds ahead of the TV broadcast). And it was the No. 1 hottest search on Google tonight -- just ahead of Tebow's eye-black tonight for his final college game: Ephesians 2:8-10.

Again: This doesn't erase the memory or sting of the loss to Alabama. But insofar as there's nothing you can do about that, this was the ideal coda - the ideal way to go out.

So much to discuss ahead: The legacy, the NFL draft preparation and scuttlebutt, the enormous potential for lucrative endorsement relationships. Plenty of time to get to that.

For now, I concur with Meyer: Tim Tebow is the greatest college football player of all time, and he illustrated why in his final game.

Tebow: Most Dominant BCS Game Ever?

Clay Travis asked an interesting question via Twitter: Aside from Vince Young against USC in the 2005 season national title game, can you remember any individual player having as dominant of a performance in a BCS-level bowl game as Tebow is having in the Sugar Bowl? (On that last drive that ended in Tebow's rushing TD, Tebow set the BCS-bowl record for individual total offense.)

Tebow Google Update: Cam Tops Eye-Black

Halfway through Tim Tebow's final college game, his influence on Google is as strong as ever:

Right now, the No. 1 hot search on Google is "Tebow Cam" -- the gimmick Fox is running. No. 2 is Ephesians 2:8-10.

Tim Tebow's Best First Half Ever

We are halfway through Tim Tebow's final college football game -- and he's making it a memorable finish: 20/24 passing for 321 yards, 3 TDs and 0 INTs.

For reference, Tebow's career-high in passing for a single game is 338.

If he plays the first series of the second half, he will break that; if he plays longer into the third quarter, he will shatter it -- "400" has a nice ring to it.

It is a bittersweet ending, to be sure, but if you can't play in the national title game, throttling the so-called next-best team in the country is a fair consolation prize.

Via Twitter, the Sentinel's Tim Stephens asked me where this game ranks among Tim Tebow's all-time best. Statistically and from the "eye test," it's Top 5... but this is a virtual exhibition, and that mitigates it. There are no stakes.

But make no mistake: This is classic Tebow dominance -- and, refreshingly, almost entirely through the air. It's like he's trying to prove a point to NFL scouts. (Going against the porous Cincy D won't help much, but Tebow is making the throws.)

I'm not sure where this ranks among Tim Tebow's all-time ranking of performances, but it's fair to say that this was his best first half ever.

Tim Tebow's Eye-Black: Ephesians 2:8-10

In the Sugar Bowl -- and his college football finale -- Tim Tebow is wearing eye-black with "EPH 2:8-10" -- Ephesians 2:8-10

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Tim Tebow's Final Game Day

"It will be hard, probably, taking that uniform off for the last time. Just knowing it is my last time to play for Coach Meyer and to play as a Florida Gator. And we do want to finish this thing the right way."

And it will be hard for fans to watch Tebow walk off the field for the last time, knowing he has played his final snap for Florida. The season isn't ending the way anyone wanted it to, but the opportunity remains to go out a winner, to go out a bowl champ and to finish in the Top 3.

More later: What eye-black will Tebow wear? (My bet: John 3:16, same as last year's national title game.) How opened up will the offense be? How much fun will Tebow and his teammates let themselves have? Will Thom Brenneman be doing the game for Fox?

Final word to Tebow:

"I think that I kind of have mixed feelings. Finishing up the last game means starting a new chapter and closing another. I’ve always had a dream of playing quarterback in the NFL. It’s a new challenge, but (I am) leaving something that’s extremely special and something that will always be a part of me at the University of Florida. It’s very exciting on one hand, but very tough on the other."

Next Up: Tebow's NFL Future

What is next for Tim Tebow? How about becoming the most intriguing name of the 2010 NFL Draft? Both the New York Times and ESPN College GameDay had features focusing on Tebow's NFL future.

Much much more about this starting next week, but I do think that the mainstream takes are focusing too much on Tebow's potential as a traditional, pro-style 60-snap-per-game QB.

His more likely NFL future is as a QB -- but a non-traditional one, even a transformational one. Used opportunistically and creatively, Tebow can have an impact in the NFL. Most important: That Tebow be connected with the right coaching, which is something that Urban Meyer continues to hammer home:

"I hope he goes to the right place. I get very concerned about that. There’s no doubt in my mind that he can play quarterback in the N.F.L."

Tebow Inspires Fox-Time Warner Truce?

I can only imagine it was the notion of withholding the chance for 13 million fans to watch the final college game of Tim Tebow that inspired Fox and Time Warner to call a temporary truce to their stand-off and allow fans to watch the Sugar Bowl tonight.

Top Tebow Moment No. 1: The Promise

The Promise is the single most defining moment of Tim Tebow's career.

Ironically -- or perhaps not ironically at all -- it came off the field, after a loss, the worst loss of Tim Tebow's career and a loss where Tebow took personal responsibility, after falling short on its make-or-break play.

The Promise was entirely unexpected -- Tebow was walking away from the podium after a seemingly routing post-game press conference, then came back. (If Tebow had planned to do it all along, I will give him even more credit.)

He re-approached the podium and began the 107-word statement that is arguably the most legendary speech in college sports history:

To the fans and everybody in Gator Nation, I'm sorry.

(Note his apology is directly to "fans" and "Gator Nation." And that he leads with an apology.)

I’m extremely sorry.

(Re-emphasis of the apology.)

We were hoping for an undefeated season. That was my goal, something Florida has never done here.

(Shift to a team-centric "we," then right back to the personal "my." And the goal being something unprecedented. File that away, and you can begin to understand the frustration that brought him to tears after the 2009 SEC championship game.)

I promise you one thing: A lot of good will come out of this.

(There it is, the operative word: "Promise." And a seeming contradiction: "Good"... from a devastating loss? It raises fan hopes. It is condolence.)

You will never see any player in the entire country play as hard as I will play the rest of the season. You will never see someone push the rest of the team as hard as I will push everybody the rest of the season.

(A very internally focused pledge: He puts it on himself. But is it just about him? No: He is going to push the rest of the team, too. But what about everyone else...?)

You will never see a team play harder than we will the rest of the season.

(There you go: Not just Tebow giving a promise -- he has now bonded the entire team to this covenant. And I am being intentionally specific with my language in putting it in terms of something explicitly religious, like "covenant" -- there is nothing stronger or more important in Old Testament religion than that. It is Tebow's covenant with the fans. It is the team's covenant with the fans.)

God bless.

(This ending doesn't just put a superficial stamp of spirituality on The Promise -- it seals that covenant, invoking the ultimate authority in Tebow's life -- and the lives of the vast majority of fans.)

We know what happened next: Inspired (or perhaps merely framed) by The Promise, the Gators went on to destroy everything in their path en route to the national championship. The Promise would not have been "The Promise" without its fulfillment.

Here's what I said a month ago, when laying out, in advance of his Swamp finale, that The Promise was Tebow's greatest moment ever at The Swamp:

It can be argued that without the blown 4th-down conversion, there would be no "Promise." And without the "Promise" (along with the win-or-die mentality that went along with the loss), there would have been no run to the 2008 national championship.

Perhaps you can argue that The Promise was merely a vow that Tebow and his teammates would try their best -- out-work every other team -- rather than guarantee a win. The presumption is that by working harder than anyone else, the team would fulfill its championship potential.

(Back in August, I had a friendly argument with the Sentinel's Andrea Adelson that The Promise would trump even an unbeaten 2009 season in defining Tebow's legacy. We'll never know now, but falling short of an unbeaten 2009 certainly re-affirms the unmatched importance of The Promise.)

As a measure of competitive drive and leadership, The Promise is unparalleled in sports -- even Namath's equally famous "guarantee" was more braggadocio than template. Regardless, it is critical to the mythology and reality of Tebow that The Promise culminated in a championship.

There is no revisionist history. The Promise begat the run to the championship. The reason why it was immortalized outside the stadium -- before Tebow had even left campus -- was because it was that transcendent, that much of a code to live by.

And then there is this: The Promise is as much of a mission statement defining Tim Tebow's entire career as it was merely his greatest moment.



The Complete Top 10
10. Commits to UF
9. I'm Coming Back!
8. Circumcisions
7. Crying
6. 20/20
5. The Virgin
4. Taunting Oklahoma
3. John 3:16
2. The Jump-Pass
1. The Promise

Top Tebow Moments: Also Receiving Votes

Just minutes from releasing the post with the No. 1 moment of Tim Tebow's career. (If you go back through the rest of the list, it isn't hard to figure out.)

Picking top Tebow moments is a fun game in the final days of his Florida career. The Times-Union has a good list, including a couple of moments/events that either were "also receiving votes" on my list or baked into the existing ranking. And one controversial one.

If I was expanding my list from Top 10 to Top 15, there would be a good chance these would make the list:

*I do love the "30 minutes!" speech from the 2008 national title game; another classic Tebow moment of inspiration.



(As a corollary, how about his "speech" to the College GameDay basketball crew? That was a nice moment for Tim -- slightly awkward for Hubert Davis.)



*I love "4th-and-1" against Tennessee his freshman year, a season-saving play and perhaps the first real "Tebow time" moment of his Florida career.

*And I agree: Senior Day was an incredibly special moment, almost the bookend to "I'm Coming Back."



*Passing Herschel was a good one, because it gave Tebow a definitive claim on the title of the SEC's greatest player ever.



*Winning the Heisman is a biggie -- I would actually include that as part of my existing "20/20" entry.



The AP has a list, too, and it has one thing on it that I didn't have in my Top 10, but thought seriously about including -- even more than any of the others listed above: The Concussion. It certainly qualified as a defining moment of Tebow's career (and, sadly, his 2009 season). And, obviously, it was the the scariest moment of his career. But I'm not sure it would make a list of TOP Tebow moments. But I didn't want it to go unrecognized.

OK: Let's get to No. 1....

Top Tebow Moment No. 2: The Jump-Pass

Tim Tebow's college football career has mere days remaining. All this week, a look back at the Top 10 defining moments of his career.

No moment on the field was as typical of Tim Tebow's college career than the original Jump-Pass. (A moment so legendary that it was and is instantly recognized by its nickname.)

The Jump-Pass represented everything that we knew about Tim Tebow -- and everything that the rest of his career would come to be defined by: It wasn't pretty, it was simply effective. And game-winning. And as inspiring to his fans as it was soul-crushing to his opponents.

In October 2006, by the weekend of the LSU game, Tebow was already a cult hero -- arguably the most popular player on the team, though just a freshman. He was a first-down-gaining, touchdown-making dervish of power and enthusiasm. (Orson Swindle of EDSBS had labeled him "Baby Rhino.")

He had previously had a win-influencing (if not precisely game-winning) 4th-down conversion against Tennessee -- but nothing mythological...yet.

Let me go back to a post I wrote just before this season's LSU game to commemorate the Jump-Pass:

Tebow had only 11 plays, but -- oh -- what plays: He was 2/2 passing... with 2 TDs. And he had 9 carries for 35 yards (a respectable 3.9 ypc given that LSU's defense was very good and they knew Tebow would be running) and a rushing TD that tied the score 7-7 at the end of the 1st quarter.

The jump pass came with just seconds to play in the 2nd quarter. The score was still 7-7. Behind Chris Leak, Florida had driven 7 plays, from their own 28 to LSU's 14 (after a UF false-start penalty). Two LSU penalties later, the Gators were on LSU's 4...

Tebow Time.

Tebow plunged through the pile 3 yards, setting up 2nd and goal from LSU's 1, with 28 seconds to play. Then, with the half about to end, Tebow lined up again, with the assumption by everyone -- most of all, by LSU, that Urban would bet on a Tebow plunge.

Instead, Tebow hesitated, faked and went up the air. He double-clutched -- like a basketball shot, I remember Verne Lundquist saying immediately -- and the ball found Tate Casey, who fell backwards like a toddler, gripping the ball like it was the first catch of his life.

The Gators would use the win as a springboard. Despite losing at Auburn one week later -- how deflating! -- Florida would sprint through the SEC title game and into their first national title of the Tebow Era.

Kirk Herbstreit had one of the best Tebow-related quotes ever, which he relayed in the preseason when he was doing his GameDay media tour. He discussed his first trip in person to see Tebow, at The Swamp for the LSU game. And he recounted that Tebow got more crowd support than anyone -- and it was loud:

"I said to (Chris) Fowler it’s like he's Roy Hobbs from the movie 'The Natural.'"

Agreed.

If my infatuation with Tim Tebow didn't come on his very first play as a Gator -- and I would argue its genesis was his first carry in the first game (a TD against Southern Miss in the season-opener) -- the Jump Pass was the moment when I and everyone else were overwhelmed by Tebow Mania. It was his 5th game ever.

To Herbie's point, Malamud's fictional "The Natural" is probably the closest thing to the real-life Tebow myth. (Roy Hobbs and Tim Tebow aren't precise analogies, but they remain appropriate: Both are idealized "naturals" in their given sports.

The only difference: Tebow is real.

Here is my favorite video of the moment -- it's not totally crystal clear, but it captures the spirit in the crowd when it happened.



And here's a better version, if you want to watch it a little more up-close and from multiple angles:



The Complete Top 10
10. Commits to UF
9. I'm Coming Back!
8. Circumcisions
7. Crying
6. 20/20
5. The Virgin
4. Taunting Oklahoma
3. John 3:16
2. The Jump-Pass
1. The Promise

Top Tebow Moment No. 3: John 3:16

Tim Tebow's college football career has mere days remaining. All this week, a look back at the Top 10 defining moments of his career.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Beginning with the second game of Tebow's junior year, he began displaying Bible verses on his eye-black. First was Phil 4:13, which he wore throughout the season.

But with the spotlight of the national championship game, Tebow came out wearing "John 3:16" -- the single-most defining passage for evangelical Christians. And the most interesting thing happened:

The internet blew up over it. More specifically, Google trembled: Quickly after the game was underway, "John 3:16" became the top "trending" search on the search engine. It finished the day as the top trending search.

(The number "94 million" has been thrown around a little bit too casually about the number of searches performed for the phrase. My understanding is that this number is miscalculated by an order of magnitude -- that said, the overall interest by casual viewers was huge.)

More importantly, Tim Tebow's ability to drive seemingly couch-bound fans to fire up their computers and see what the passage said was established, on college football's biggest stage. And it was a secular revelation to Tim and his family -- a uniquely 21st-century symbol of his power to influence.

Most interestingly, it was this Google detail that Tebow and his family brought up most prominently when he discussed coming back for his senior season. Winning a championship would be wonderful; strengthening his relationships with his coaches and teammates is wonderful; being able to impact people's lives through community service is wonderful.

But underlying all that was the realization that -- as the most prominent and popular athlete in the history of college sports -- Tebow would have a much MUCH more commanding platform by which to influence fans with The Word.

By the start of the 2009 season, Tebow's eye-black would become a weekly fascination (it even inspired a blog, called Tebow's Eye-Black). He would change the messages each week, and each week, the verses would be among the most-searched phrases on Google.

(If you check the topic box on the lower right of this page and click on "eye-black," you will see the weekly coverage of his use of eye-black. I regularly tried to find layered -- even secular -- meanings in the passages. This was most notable during the SEC title game.)

In the SEC Championship Game -- the most-watched college football game of the season -- Tebow's "John 16:33" was the No. 1 hottest search trend... right up until it was bumped to No. 2 by "Tim Tebow crying."

Tebow's experience in the 2008 national title game with "John 3:16" and Google was a defining one for him -- and his legacy.



The Complete Top 10
10. Commits to UF
9. I'm Coming Back!
8. Circumcisions
7. Crying
6. 20/20
5. The Virgin
4. Taunting Oklahoma
3. John 3:16
2. The Jump-Pass
1. The Promise

Tebow Draft Watch: "Has Every Intangible"

When Florida QB coach Scott Loeffler addressed the media at the Sugar Bowl, he also addressed a slew of questions about Tim Tebow's fit in the NFL -- as I have said, Tebow will be the No. 1 storyline of the 2010 NFL Draft. Here were Loeffler's responses. Really interesting:

On Tebow's NFL potential:

“Absolutely. 100 percent. Just like any college quarterback coming from college football to the National Football League there’s transition. There was transition with Peyton Manning and there was transition with Tom Brady. The one I have down in Miami, there was transition. It’s just a different game.

"[Tebow] has every intangible. He has all the talent. Probably the biggest adjustment in that league is the speed. It (the NFL) is all the best players from all the best leagues. It’s an adjustment that every single quarterback that I’ve been associated with who has played in the league has had to make."

On time needed to make a transition:

"Oh I don’t know. That’s like asking whether an incoming recruit will be ready to play in his first year or his third year. Everybody is different. Some guys are going to pick it up quicker than the others. The way Tim Tebow is and the mentality he has and the work ethic he has it’s not going to take him long. It’s not going to take him long at all."

On intangibles:

"Being a quarterback is being a quarterback whether it’s Pee Wee Football or the National Football League. The guys who have “IT” are the guys who play a long time in that league and Tim Tebow has “IT”. The intangibles that he’s learned here and he learned from his parents is going to carry over to that league, there’s no question."

On a team adjusting to Tebow (or vice versa):

"I think every NFL system always adjusts to what their quarterback does best. I don’t know if they’ll let him [truck defensive players], but he’s going to."

Top Tebow Moment No. 4: Taunting the Sooners

Tim Tebow's college football career has mere days remaining. All this week, a look back at the Top 10 defining moments of his career.

"I let the Gator speak for me."

This is my all-time favorite Tim Tebow moment: The unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty he was flagged for against Oklahoma in the 2008 national championship game.

Let's set the scene. Florida was up 24-14 with 2 minutes to go in the 4th quarter. On 2nd-and-9 from the Oklahoma 35, Tebow rushed for 13 yards, pulled down a little too hard by Oklahoma's Nic Harris.

Tebow popped up and started jawing. Then he gave Harris the Gator Chomp. There is the briefest of pauses by the referee, perhaps because he is shocked that the taunt is coming from Tebow. But then the flag comes out.

Because the game's result -- and a national championship -- were in hand for Florida, the outburst from Tebow was triumphalist, rather than tacky. In the face of some unflagged unsportsmanlike conduct by the Sooners, Tebow showed them what's what.

It was so uncharacteristic of Tebow to taunt, let alone get flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct -- and yet it was a glimpse at the ultimate competitiveness. 99 percent of the time, the Bible's word is Tebow's guide; in this case, as he said: "I let the Gator speak for me."

Not to sound blasphemous, but it was almost like -- for that five seconds -- Tebow was possessed by something less-than-wholesome, something that insisted "No, take THAT." Everyone has that side. And a rare peek at the pure competitive core that makes Tebow who he is on the field.

Here is why I like the play so much: It was Tebow's most human -- and likable -- public display of his life.

Watch the video below. It's only 10 seconds, but it says everything.



The Complete Top 10
10. Commits to UF
9. I'm Coming Back!
8. Circumcisions
7. Crying
6. 20/20
5. The Virgin
4. Taunting Oklahoma
3. John 3:16
2. The Jump-Pass
1. The Promise